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Ireland — Venturing from Dublin; Galway


Galway, Ireland

Today and next Monday we’ll look at the city of Galway here on the blog. And on this week’s Fun Photo Friday I’ll post some favorites of both Galway and the Burren.

Galway

Here we had only the briefest of tour guiding before being released to wander about, find lunch, and eventually head back to the tour bus. Our choice of lunch I’ll present to you on Monday, but for now I’ll just say there was no shortage of choices about.

Galway
Galway

Nor was there a lack of drinking establishments.

Galway
Galway

Galway received a municipal charter in 1484, but it began life as a fortification some 360 years earlier, in 1124.

Galway

The downtown area itself is simply charming. You’ll even find charming dogs accompanying their equally charming servants:

Two dogs taking their servant out for a stroll

Now for a little exploring on our own:

Galway

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Ireland — Venturing from Dublin; The Burren


The Burren

With two days of touring the city behind us, Dublin now became our base for venturing out into other areas. So, on Day 3 we found ourselves on a tour that would take us to the Cliffs of Moher (which I showed you last week), the Burren and the city of Galway, all of which are situated on the west coast.

The Burren — Limestone “pavement”

Today I’ll concentrate on the Burren, which is in the Burren National Park. The Burren itself is an interesting piece of geology. “Burren” is derived from the Irish word Boireann, which translates to “Great Rock”. And great it truly is.

The Burren

This great rock feature is a limestone “pavement” covering quite a swath through the Irish countryside. Within this pavement are grikes (fissures and crevices) separating huge clints (flat slabs of limestone).

Grikes (fissures) separating Clints (stone “pavers”)

As you can see, our tour wasted little time scrambling out onto the limestone to explore this incredible, alien landscape.

Heading out onto the Burren

So, let’s just take a look around before we continue on to Galway:

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Fun Photo Friday — Cliffs of Moher Favorites


Irish Green and Steep Cliffs

Next week we head for a photo stop at the Burren, and continue on to Galway. Until then, here’s today’s Fun Photo Friday favorites of the Cliffs of Moher:

Rugged Surf
Stepped Cliffs
Courtesy of Cornelius O’Brien
Stonehinged?

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Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation